Pat Rollins: Patience and the right conditions can make all the difference

Tuesday

Sep 18, 2012 at 3:15 AM

While I was scouting for deer sign near my home I discovered a single large beech tree that was loaded with nuts. I visited the area a number of times during the next couple weeks and when the beech nuts started falling I began seeing a lot of fresh deer tracks around the tree, including one large set that I figured was the big buck I'd been hoping to find.

I set up my trail camera and on the third day, the big eight pointer came in and posed nicely for a photo just fifteen yards from the tree I was planning on setting my stand in.

Come opening day of archery season, with my ladder stand in position, I grabbed my bow and made the half-mile walk back into the stand around two o'clock and settled in for the afternoon hunt.

As soon as I climbed into that stand I knew I'd broken one of my rules for hunting tree stands, I'd chosen to hunt a stand when the wind was wrong. Instead of blowing from where the deer were bedded down toward me, my scent was blowing in the direction the deer would be coming.

I knew better. Even though I utilize Scent Lock garments while deer hunting, I try never to hunt a tree stand when the wind isn't in my favor, particularly when I'm hunting a big buck. However, this time I got caught up in opening day.

The scouting I'd done in the area showed that the deer had been visiting this huge beech tree during the middle of the afternoon so I was expecting to see a whitetail at any moment. Well, the afternoon went by quickly and by the time my day was done, I'd seen my share of gray squirrels, but no deer.

In the past, I've waited several days for the wind to turn in a favorable direction just to hunt a particular tree stand.

I was on a 10-day long trip when I stumbled onto a scrape line that appeared to be as active as it can get. I found a perfect location for my ladder stand in an ash tree that was partially concealed by some hemlock trees just 18 yards from an active scrape that had some huge tracks in it.

When I went to hunt it the next morning, the wind was blowing straight toward the direction that the big buck was coming from.

"He didn't get that big by being stupid," I whispered to myself as I stood in a huge clover field under the cover of darkness.

I realized I'd likely get only one shot at him, so I climbed back in the truck and went to hunt an alternate location. I had to postpone hunting that stand for four days until the wind was in my favor. Then on the fifth morning, everything came together.

Like I'd done the previous four mornings, I stepped from my truck to check the wind in the clover field. Finally! The wind had changed, offering me the perfect opportunity to hunt the stand. I suited up quickly, tossed my pack over my shoulder and grabbed my bow.

By the time it was light enough to hunt, I was settled in the stand watching a doe with two young pawing around under a big oak tree for acorns. Minutes after they meandered off, I heard a branch break off to my right and as I turned slowly I spotted a spike horn buck that made a beeline to the scrape.

As I watched, the young buck hooked a small sapling with his left antler and began racking the tree. I could see shards of tree bark falling to the ground as the little buck fought with the tree. Then he stopped abruptly and turned back to his right and stared into the forest. He must have stood there for five minutes before he ran off.

I stared in the direction he was watching and before long, I spotted a monster buck slowly picking his way in my direction. As I watched, he lowered his big rack and shredded a small sapling just out of bow range. Then he made a beeline straight for the scrape. As he began to paw out the scrape, I waited until he turned broadside. When his head came up and he looked the other way, I drew my bow and moments later I filled my tag with a 236- pound eight-point buck with a 20-inch wide tall rack.

Back at camp, when asked about the big buck, I remember telling my buddies that my deer was the result of being patient and not hunting a stand until the conditions were right.